EXPERIENCE ECONOMY

Whenever I want to do something fun with my friends we often look for something that we haven’t done before. First, we take a look on the internet. Then, we ask the people around us for new and exciting ideas, because we notice that a lot of people around us also look for different experiences when they go out. From my own experience I find that a lot of the existing activities are not new and exciting enough anymore. We live in the age of the customer. Customers like to think they know more and therefore expect more. As customer expectations shift, companies are forced to adapt. Resulting in an Experience Economy.

WHERE

So, people are looking for new and more profound experiences, but where can you find them? Let’s begin small with the inflatable Irish pub. The American company Paddy Wagon Pub has created an inflatable Irish Pub to enable people to bring the pub to their party instead of the party to the pub. The largest version of the pub can hold up to 80 guests. Paddy Wagon Pub will provide booze, snacks, live music and even Irish dancers, anything to keep the party going. The inflatable Irish pub is a great way to bring the experience to the consumer (Hemsworth, 2016).

Trendhunter, 2016

Another new experience is the underwater museum near the coast of Lanzarote. It’s the first underwater museum in Europe created by the sculptor Jason deCairnes Taylor. The museum also serves as an artificial reef for fish and other sea animals in order to restore the ripped ecosystem. Everything about this museum evolves around the awareness of the ocean. “In times of increasing patriotism and protectionism, the wall aims to remind us that we cannot segregate our oceans, air, climate or wildlife as we do our land and possessions. The work aims to mark 2017 as a pivotal moment, a line in the sand and reminder that our world’s oceans and climate are changing and we need to take urgent action before it’s too late,” Jason says. So if you enjoy water and want to experience a new way of going to a museum, this is would be a great activity (Van Vugt, 2017).

NSMBL, 2017

If being active is not really your thing you can always go to the cinema. In this 4D cinema people can experience watching movies with many extra’s, including wind, rain, specials scents and moving chairs. The new movie experience will be available in Dutch Pathé movie theatres in the beginning of 2018 (Van Dijk, 2017).

RTL Nieuws, 2017

There is also a need for more intimate experiences. Sleeping next to one of the most famous paintings in history is one of those experiences. Dutch art teacher Stefan Kasper was lucky enough to win a night sleeping next to the Nachtwacht in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. He had the chance to look at all of the artwork from up-close with no interruptions. For him, it was a dream come true (NOS, 2017).

NOS, 2017

When it comes to shopping, people want more in-store technology tools to improve the experience.

According to a survey from Bouncepad (a company that sells tablet kiosks to big brands), about 78% of the 1000 consumers want businesses such as retailers, restaurants and hotels to do a better job of using technology. While 61% want self-service tools at their disposal rather than waiting for an employee to drive the experience for them. The American store Walmart is first on the list of best retailers that use technology in-store. McDonald’s is seen as one of the best restaurants that use tech tools on site (O’Shea, 2017).

Of course most of the experiences cost a lot of money. In The Netherlands, companies save a lot of money because of the innovation-rule. These innovative companies have saved up to 1.2 billion in total, which is 22% more than the year before. From 22.330 of the companies that applied for the measure, 97% is a small of medium-big business. The measure is designed to enable enterprises to innovate their approach to new ideas and their products (ANP, 2017).

THE FUTURE

Customer expectations in the future are the outcome of movements that have been underway for decades. Changes such as the explosion of digital and the acceleration of innovation are having a profound impact on customer expectations. The customer of the future will expect companies to know their individual needs and personalize the experience. Immediate resolution will not be fast enough as customers will expect companies to address their current and future needs.

Many companies are already laying the foundation for the future. To be relevant in the future, companies must focus on leveraging big data to create a single source of truth and making customer intelligence accessible throughout the enterprise. Companies must consider “insight generation” as a sales enablement function and emphasize proactive and personalized customer support to effectively grow and retain customers (Walker, z.j.).